The Johns Hopkins Hospital

Expertise

Psychologist

Biography

Broadly speaking, Dr. James A. Fauerbach''s research interests regard the dynamic relations among stress, emotions, coping and health within the context of medical and surgical crises. This work is conducted primarily among those with acute burn injury or with acute coronary syndromes, and employs experimental, quasi-experimental, and epidemiological methods. His interests among those with major burn injuries include the etiology, natural history, prevention and treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder and body image dissatisfaction. In addition, he is investigating the prevalence and impact of social stigmatization on those with distinctive appearances, and the differential effectiveness of various methods of coping with pain and distress associated with medical procedures.

Also of great interest is the impact of depression on morbidity and mortality following acute coronary events such as myocardial infarction. He has been awarded numerous external grants including two cycles as the Principal Investigator for a federally funded Burn Injury Model System (H133A97020101). This multi-center collaboration currently involves several projects including a clinical trial of cognitive-behavioral methods for treating acute stress disorder, and using standard and online sampling methods to develop a tool for measuring perceived social stigmatization. Additionally, with his cardiologist co-investigators, Drs. David E. Bush and Roy C. Ziegelstein, he is investigating the biological and behavioral mechanisms through which depression at the time of myocardial infarction is associated with poor outcome.